Factors influencing individuals' intention to adopt mobile banking in China and Pakistan: The moderating role of cultural values

Rapid development of smartphone technologies in Asian countries has increased the demand of mobile banking in financial services and mobile commerce. Current research is conducted for mobile banking adoption in China and Pakistan. The social influence was added with technology acceptance model to investigate the direct effect on individuals' intention. Moderating role of cultural values was explored in the proposed model. Empirical study was performed for the data received from both countries to examine the developed model. Multiple and hierarchical regression analyses (IBM SPSS software) were carried out to test the proposed hypotheses. We have observed that perceived usefulness, social influence, and perceived ease of use are significant predictors of individuals' intentions to adopt m‐banking in Pakistan, whereas the perceived usefulness is an important predictor in China. The moderating role of cultural values was observed as dampening factor in positive relationship between social influence and individuals' intentions.     

Sovereigns and citizens? The contested status of American Indian tribal nations and their members

American Indian tribal members are citizens of both tribal nations and the larger national body. Tribal nations' contemporary resurgence has made tribal citizenship politically visible, materially significant, and politically contested. Conflicts about tribal members' status are not merely racial or ethnic in character, but reflect fundamental tensions between settler societies and indigenous survivors who challenge national narratives and demand collective rights. Tribal members' dual citizenships and the conflict about them are the result of discordant federal policy legacies, tenacious tribal survival, and the erosion of racial barriers to citizenship. Differences between ethnonational tribal citizenship and republican-based US citizenship fuel public criticism in the context of widespread ignorance about treaties and tribal rights. Crucially, while legal and political dimensions of citizenship have been partly extended to tribal members, they remain excluded from the national identity.     

A conceptual model development of the impact of higher education service quality in guaranteeing edu‐tourists' satisfaction and behavioral intentions

This conceptual study proposed that university service quality is of significant influence in guaranteeing education tourist's (edu‐tourist) satisfaction, recommendation intention, and repurchase intention. The study considers the universities as tourism markets that attract edu‐tourists and put forward that the level of service quality provided by institutions can influence on the satisfaction of edu‐tourist and their post‐behavioral intention in an educational tourism context. This paper analyzed several previous studies and discussed service quality factors affecting edu‐tourist's satisfaction and behavioral intentions using various databases such as social sciences and psychology. The theoretical framework of the means‐end approach was used to evaluate service quality dimensions. The findings revealed the most significant factors affecting edu‐tourist's perception of service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Overall, the campus facilities perceived to be the most prominent factor in satisfying edu‐tourists. Recommendations for future research relating the crucial determinants of service quality in influencing consumers' behavior are discussed.     

Inside national service: AmeriCorps' impact on participants

This study examines the short‐ and long‐term impact of AmeriCorps participation on members' civic engagement, education, employment, and life skills. The analysis compares changes in the attitudes and behaviors of participants over time to those of individuals not enrolled in AmeriCorps, controlling for interest in national and community service, member and family demographics, and prior civic engagement. Results indicate that participation in AmeriCorps led to positive impacts on members, especially in the area of civic engagement, members' connection to community, knowledge about problems facing their community, and participation in community‐based activities. AmeriCorps had some positive impacts on its members' employment‐related outcomes. Few statistically significant impacts were found for measures of participants' attitude toward education or educational attainment, or for selected life skills measures. Within a subset of community service programs that incorporate a residential component for members, the study also uncovered a short‐term negative impact of participation on members' appreciation for ethnic and cultural diversity, which disappeared over time. The implications of these findings for future research on national service are discussed. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Understanding the academic learning of university students using smartphone: Evidence from Pakistan

As the number of smartphone users have increased worldwide, research on the usage of the smartphone has received scholarly attention. However, different results were found in previous studies in different contexts. The main research question is whether adopting smartphones by students improve learning or generates interference. The purpose of this study is to examine the usage of smartphone among university students in Pakistan. Using a survey approach, data were collected from different universities/colleges of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. total, 585 entries was analyzed using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0 software. Results of analysis, validated most of the hypothesis showing the intention of Pakistani students towards smartphone usage for academic purpose. In addition, findings confirm that students' self‐efficacy related to a smartphone works as a moderating role of intention to use a smartphone for learning and actual usage of the smartphone. The current study has several implications in terms of smartphone usage and student academic performance. Limitations and implications of the study are also discussed in the last section.     

The importance of personal vote intentions for the responsiveness of legislators: A field experiment

Individual legislators can be important agents of political representation. However, this is contingent upon their responsiveness to constituency requests. To study this topic, an increasing number of studies use field experiments in which the researcher sends a standardized email to legislators on behalf of a constituent. In this paper, we report the results of an original field experiment of this genre with the members of the German Bundestag. Supplementing previous research, we explore whether constituency requests in which voters mention a personal vote intention (rather than a partisan vote intention) increase legislators’ responsiveness, and how this treatment relates to electoral system's incentives. We find that legislators treated with a personal vote intention were more likely to respond (67 per cent) and respond faster than those treated with a partisan vote intention (59 per cent). However, we also show that the treatment effect is moderated by electoral system incentives: it is larger for nominally-elected legislators than for those elected via a party list. Our results suggest that electoral system's incentives matter for legislators’ responsiveness only when constituents explicitly signals an intention to cast a personal vote.     

Role of blogging in perceived learning and satisfaction of students

The contemporary smart concepts of education signify a heavy role of blogging tools in digital learning environments that have a substantial effect on students' learning and satisfaction. This study aims to analyze the influence of students' four perceptions about blogging that is, perception of digital technology (PDT), perceptions of teaching and learning (PTL), perceptions of previous blogging experience (PBE), and perceived usefulness of blogging (PUB) on the frequency of blogging and then assesses the impact of the frequency of blogging on perceived satisfaction as well as perceived learning of students. For this purpose, the researchers conducted a quantitative study with a positivist approach in which the data were collected from 350 students in Anhui Province, China to conduct analysis of the proposed relationships. The results of the current study suggest that there is a positive impact of PDT, PTL, PBE and PUB on the frequency of blogging. It means that the positive perceptions of students towards digital technology, teaching and learning, previous bogging experience and usefulness of blogging result in higher frequency and use of blogging activity. It further indicates that the high frequency of blogging has ultimately a positive impact on perceived satisfaction and perceived learning. The discussion and findings of the current study have useful implications for theory and practice because they provide empirical evidence and theoretical guidelines about the role of blogging in perceived learning and satisfaction.     

Group size and the free-rider hypothesis: An examination of new evidence from churches

Conventional economic wisdom maintains that expansion of group size exacerbates group members' free riding tendencies. Nevertheless, experimental studies attempting to account for the effects of group size on free riding have failed to support a pure “numbers effect.” This study corroborates these experimental findings by examining contributions of church members from congregations of three prominent U.S. Protestant denominations. As a whole, these results show that, for congregations ranging from 7 members to 3,294 members, per member contributions do not decline with increased membership. The free-rider problem does not appear to be exacerbated by increases in group size.     

Framework for teachers' acceptance of information and communication technology in Pakistan: Application of the extended UTAUT model

The motive of this research paper is to investigate the teachers' adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) in Pakistan and the application of extended UTAUT model in a new context. A number of factors can cause changes in intention towards the usage of ICT including social, behavioral, and psychological factors, but this study, using the UTAUT model, is limited to examining the behavioral determinants of teachers' acceptance of ICT. To achieve the objective, a quantitative approach was adopted where questionnaire‐based data were obtained for analysis. The analyses were conducted on 341 valid responses that were collected from the teachers of high secondary schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Getting the data analyzed through SPSS and AMOS, our results show that performance expectancy, efforts expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and information technology capabilities play a significant role in shaping teachers' adoption of ICT. Moreover, behavioral intentions mediate the relationship between the predictors and ICT usage. Based on the findings of this paper, administrators and government are recommended to spend additional efforts and money by launching programs for their teachers to increase the usage of ICT in their teaching and schools. The study provides numerous insights for teachers, school administrators, and government ICT‐based smart teaching and learning institutions.     

Do Partners in PPPs view Public and Private Management Differently?

Differences between public and private management have been studied extensively by comparing sectors, but not within cross‐sectoral collaborative arrangements. As participants in such arrangements have actually experienced both management styles, examining their perceptions of how these styles differ may contribute innovatively to existing literature. This paper compares such perceptions between public and private sector project members (N = 63) involved in four PPPs in the Netherlands. We assess (1) to what extent and under which conditions these project members view public and private management differently and (2) how they evaluate these differences. By triangulating quantitative and qualitative interview data, we examine Boyne's classical hypotheses and find that more than two‐thirds of the statements making reference to these hypotheses offer support for them; more so, the vast majority of such statements evaluate sectoral differences negatively. Intriguingly, type of PPP is a stronger determinant of perceived differences than the manager's sector of origin.     

Problem-based learning beyond borders: Impact and potential for university-level human rights education

Abstract

This article outlines a cutting-edge pedagogy I have branded problem-based learning beyond borders, which I have employed in a wide variety of human rights courses and in developing curriculum for two graduate programs in human rights. It involves engaging students, faculty, and community members in real-world problems usually raised by the community members. This pedagogy could be employed successfully in a range of human rights courses and programs but faculty members are often reluctant to adopt a new pedagogy, especially when it involves shifting their pedagogical ethos. So here I offer a number of compelling examples of this pedagogy drawn from my human rights classes, and then I turn to the question of best practices for encouraging other human rights faculty members to adopt such cutting-edge active-learning pedagogies. I end with some practical advice that should be applicable when encouraging faculty to experiment with such innovative pedagogies.     

How Organizational Learning Is Supported by Performance Management Systems: Evidence from a Longitudinal Case Study

Abstract

Performance management is meant to encourage organizational change by providing better and more relevant feedback to managers. But there is no denying the complexity of learning and change. How performance management helps this process goes beyond the simple availability of performance information. In this study, we examine the learning processes in a large Belgian public organization through interviews of managers, directors, and administrators. By using 4Is framework of organizational learning—from Intuitions to Interpretation to Integration to Institutionalization—we identify critical blocks and enablers of learning and change. Critical impediments include off-topic discussions of performance information, lack of opportunity to share and discuss management practices, and limited motivation to change entrenched processes of work. Performance management also provides reliable enablers of organizational learning, such as giving credibility-by-results to new management practices, focusing discussions on processes that lead to measurable results, the ability to follow new innovations closely as they are implemented, and the possibility of creating a learning culture supported by performance information. Finally, we discuss how perceived credibility of performance information is crucial to organizational learning and how it is reinforced by use and dialogue.     

Capacity Building as an Instrument of Institutional Reform: Improving the Quality of Higher Education through Academic Audits in the UK, New Zealand, Sweden, and Hong Kong

As countries convert from state to market-centered public policies, there is increasing interest in new forms of public accountability. Capacity building initiatives that reform institutional frameworks are useful policy instruments during this period of transition. What are the impacts and implementation problems characteristic of this approach? This article reviews the experience with "Academic Audit," a capacity building accountability instrument for universities adopted in the UK, Sweden, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. Academic audits altered the incentives for cooperative behavior among faculty members to improve student learning. Identified implementation problems included: training for the new process, the uncertainty of capacity building benefits, and the central role of information.     

构建大学生党员思想教育新平台

大学生党建工作是高校管理工作中的重要内容,本文在分析了目前大学生党建工作还存在问题的基础上,提出了建立科学发展观学习社,通过组织社团活动,使学生党员达到自我教育、自我管理、自我服务的目的。     

Electoral Rewards for Personal Vote Cultivation under PR-STV

Generally the assumption is that legislators act to maximise their chances of re-election, with their optimal behaviour determined by the party-centred or candidate-centred nature of the electoral system in use. Existing evidence of the impact of members' actual behaviour on subsequent electoral performance is inconclusive. This research explores whether or not legislators who choose to focus on cultivating personal votes reap rewards from the electorate under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system. Exploring electoral reward under STV is particularly significant because some legislators face intra-party competition for votes while others do not – a key determining incentive for cultivating personal votes. This study uses a survey of Irish legislators in 2002 and 2007 to measure constituency orientation and effort. The data suggest an electoral reward for personal vote cultivation, although the relationship between intra-system incentive and reward is apparently not always as expected.     

我国院校绩效管理有效运行条件研究

绩效管理是教育管理改革的重要策略。当前,深入研究绩效管理技术在我国院校的运作问题具有十分重要的意义。加强领导重视和组织支持,保证教职员工的广泛参与,合理设定绩效考核指标体系,不断对绩效管理系统进行调整,建设良好的高绩效组织文化,是我国院校绩效管理有效运行的五项前提条件。     

Ripple effects: An exclusive host national context produces more perceived discrimination among immigrants

This article examines the perceived discrimination of immigrants – a group for whom experiences of discrimination can be damaging for their long‐term commitment and identification with the national core group. Taking its point of departure in the literature on national identity, the article argues that perceived discrimination should be strongest among immigrants in host national societies with an exclusive self‐image. This hypothesis is examined by use of multilevel regressions on cross‐national survey data from 18 Western European countries. It is found that where exclusive attitudes are widespread in the host population, the percentage of immigrants who perceive themselves to be part of a group discriminated against is significantly greater, all else being equal. In addition, there is a cross‐level interaction effect of host national inclusivity and ethnic minority identity which suggests that individual‐level determinants of perceived discrimination do not ‘work’ in the same way in normatively different contexts. In terms of the implications of these findings, the article points to the importance of contextualising individual‐level accounts of perceived discrimination, with particular focus on the power of a society's attitudinal milieu to affect individual feelings of inclusion and exclusion.     

Organizational Resistance to Participatory Approaches in Public Agencies: An Analysis of Forest Department's Resistance to Community-Based Forest Management

The organizational resistance of public agencies to participatory approaches is analyzed by means of a case study involving the implementation of community-based forest management (CBFM) in India. Both exogenous and endogenous causes of resistance are identified, and a theoretical model proposed. The model consists of two dimensions of resistance to change (structural resistance and cultural resistance) and three categories of causal factors (organizational, personal, and environmental factors). The model is empirically tested using the perceptions of senior and middle management level members of the state Forest Departments (FDs) of four states in India, collected through a questionnaire survey. The empirical findings are used to suggest strengthening of public management theories on four aspects: the distinction between structural and cultural resistance; inclusion of extra-organizational processes; the distinction between individual and organizational learning; and the need to differentiate between the impacts of the legislative and executive wings on public agencies' organizational resistance. The results are used to suggest some specific measures to deal with the organizational inertia in public agencies.     

Beyond Truth and Integrity in State Budgeting: Why State Governments Use Budget Balancing Maneuvers (or Gimmicks)?

This study investigates the influence of political, structural, economic, and other factors on state governments’ use of maneuvers to balance budgets and eliminate deficits from FY 15 to FY 18. Budget maneuvers are unsound and nonsustainable strategies, such as using borrowed funds to finance operations and underfunding pensions. These practices were documented and graded by The Volcker Alliance for all states and years in collaboration with faculty and students at multiple universities. Consistent with prior research that uses an adaptation framework to explain the strategies government officials use to balance budgets, this research finds that state financial condition has the strongest effect or one of the strongest effects on states’ use of such budget gimmicks.     

Are regulatory agencies independent in practice? Evidence from board members in Spain

Are the board members of regulatory agencies (regulators), taken as a particular cluster within the public sphere, independent of elected politicians and tenured bureaucrats? How can we assess their independence in practice, beyond formal rules? To address these questions, this paper delves into two key dimensions: board members' social connections and their security of tenure in office. Firstly, we focus on regulators' identity as policy adjudicators and examine their political and administrative relations. In doing so, we expect to understand better how regulators' social and political situations may influence their behavior. Secondly, we assess their political vulnerability through political cycles in order to measure their de facto independence over time. Additionally, variations in these two dimensions are compared with respect to the effect of different de jure appointment rules. We contrast these expectations with the empirical evaluation of board members of regulatory agencies in Spain (1979–2010). Thus, we confirm that regulators who have an administrative profile are more vulnerable to political changes than those with political ties, while appointment rules have an influence on their political vulnerability.